Mr. Green moved to accept the minutes as presented, Ms. Deleste seconded, and the minutes were approved.

Correspondence

There was no correspondence.

Presidentís Report

Mr. Reedy welcomed new trustee Bill Kuc to the board.

He pointed out that there had been some recent reports in the papers about a group seeking to censor materials at St. Louis County Library locations, and asked Mr. Cooper if we were prepared to answer similar questions. Mr. Cooper believes we have the necessary policies and documents in place.

He appointed Mr. Green to the Building and Grounds Committee and the Automation Committee, and took himself off of those committees.

Librarianís Report

Mr. Cooper noted that he had not met with city Finance Director Joan Jadali, since their meeting was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. But Ms. Jadali had provided the important piece of information that the City does not plan to take on any new debt prior to 2011.

He asked if everyone had had a chance to look over his projected budget figures. Ms. Deleste was concerned that the projected rates didnít include an increase for insurance: surely a larger building would cost more to insure. Ms. Krueger thought the projection should include more funds for childrenís activities, since that is a crucial part of our strategic plan. Mr. Cooper agreed to rework both figures.

Advanced Planning

Ms. Krueger presented a two-part resolution: part one was a reimbursement resolution to pay the library back out of money realized from the sale of bonds for architectís fees, legal fees and other expenses relating to the project. The second part was to approve a letter of engagement from attorneys Cunningham, Vogel & Rost to represent the library in its work to pass a bond issue. Ms. Deleste moved that the resolution be passed, contingent on Mr. Ruger, who was absent, taking a look at it. Ms. Walsh seconded. In discussion, Mr. Herdler noted that the letter of engagement mentioned charging hourly fees in the event that the library decided not to pursue the bond issue question, or if the bond issue failed, and that there was no indication what those fees might be. The motion was amended to state that its passage was also contingent on trustees getting a look at a rate schedule. Ms. Walsh moved to accept the amended motion, Mr. Kuc seconded, and the amended motion passed.

The next important step is to decide what amounts to ask for in a bond issue and a tax levy. There will need to be some Planning Committee meetings prior to the next board meeting to work on this question. Considering the importance of the question, everyone will be invited to attend these meetings, not just Planning Committee members.

Trustees expressed a desire to see a timeline of the steps still needed to prepare for an election, and a breakdown of the various ways our ballot question(s) could be framed.

Automation/Systems

There was no report from this committee.

Building and Grounds

There was no report from this committee.

Finance

Mr. Herdler reviewed the financial report and disbursements for August, 2008. He noted that the first interest payment has been made for a line of credit advance, and we will need to borrow more soon. Mr. Green made a motion that the financial report be approved as presented. Ms. Birke seconded, and the report was approved.

Human Resource

There was no report from this committee.

Policy

Mr. Cooper mentioned that the auditors are still insisting that we need to have in place a capital assets policy and a fraud prevention policy. Mr. Cooper will seek examples of other librariesí existing policies, and work on drafts of these items.

Old Business

There were no comments on the 07-08 Annual Report.

New Business

There was no new business.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

The next meeting of the Libraryís Board of Trustees will be held on Wednesday, October 15 at 7 p.m.